Calxeda hires former Cisco exec as COO

LONDON – Calxeda, a startup pioneering the development of ARM-based processor chips and technology for server computers, has announced that Gopal Hegde has joined the company as chief operating officer. Hegde was previously senior director of engineering at Cisco.

Hegde, is described by Calxeda (Austin, Texas) as being "critical in leading the strategic direction of Calxeda's engineering, architecture and manufacturing operations."

"Gopal's 20 years' experience, especially while at Cisco leading its Unified Computing System product line, brings us extremely relevant expertise at just the right time," said Barry Evans, CEO and co-founder of Calxeda, in a statement.

Prior to his time at Cisco Hegde worked for Adaptec where he managed Adaptec RAID engineering team driving revenues in excess of $180 million per year. Hegde joined Adaptec from Intel where he was responsible for server platform IO architecture and planning. In this role, he led the task force that proposed architecture for integration of PCIe into Intel CPUs. He also drove technology development and standardization of Backplane Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ap) Data Center Bridging (DCBX), Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and IO Virtualization technologies for Intel servers.

In October it was reported that Calxeda had closed a $55 million round of funding with investments from Austin Ventures and Vulcan Capital. Previous investors include ARM Holdings, Abu Dhabi-based Advanced Technology Investment Co., Texas Instruments, Battery Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Highland Capital Partners. The latest round brings Calxeda’s total funding to more than $100 million.